


Another Body

by cuethesun



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: And for the Mystery Train arc, Corpse Magnet Kudou Shinichi: A Discussion, Honestly they just talk, M/M, Minor spoilers for chapters 1058-1060, Overall conversation about a gory murder case, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:42:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29607558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuethesun/pseuds/cuethesun
Summary: How we need another soul to cling to, another body to keep us warm. To rest and trust; to give your soul in confidence: I need this, I need someone to pour myself into.--Sylvia Plath.A chance meeting turns out to have more significance than they thought.
Relationships: Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid
Comments: 8
Kudos: 99





	Another Body

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe I wrote 5 thousand words just because I really want Shinichi and Kaito to sit down and talk about their feelings. 
> 
> This one also comes from the list of 100 ways to say "I love you". The prompt this time is "I'll walk you home."

There were many, _many_ annoying things about becoming a six-year-old again, but, if anyone had asked Shinichi about it that evening, he would have a clear contender for worst of all.

Namely, how no one would let him conduct a _proper_ investigation.

Case in point: here he was, way past curfew time, sneaking under the yellow tape of a crime scene in hopes to get a glimpse of… well, something. To be there, he’d told Ran he’d be sleeping at Professor Agasa’s house — right after he’d told Haibara he’d be staying home, and sleeping early.

He couldn’t turn on his watch light — too many officers nearby — so he stayed close to the grass, crawling on hands and knees. Only then he could find the right place, the flattened leaves and removable flags.

The victim had, of course, been moved long ago; too much danger of contamination. The tape should have been removed as well, but the utter lack of identifiers on the dead woman had the detectives unwilling to give up the crime scene that soon. All for nothing, because no one had found clothes, or documents, or any clue at all…

And Shinichi, who could see things no one else could, who could glance at the right spot and picture the scene just as it had been when they’d stumbled on the investigation this morning, felt like there was a hole inside his brain. His memory was very good, but _very good_ wasn’t enough when he’d been dragged off the park before he could get a good look.

Dragged. Like he had never helped them with a case before.

Like it didn’t make things better when he _could_ help _._

The weight he’d been carrying in his stomach all day rose up to his throat, and Shinichi had to slap his hands over his mouth, try to hold the noise in. His eyes watered.

 _Get a grip,_ he told himself firmly. _If you don’t get a grip, you won’t see anything. Get a hold of yourself._

“You all right, kid?”

“…I’m fine, thank you.”

“Then what are you doing here in the middle of the night?”

Shinichi sighed. “Oh, please, it’s not even ten PM yet—”

—and then he remembered himself. And turned.

There was an officer kneeling by him, all curious eyes and a flashlight pointed right at his face.

“Hey,” the man said, loud enough that everyone else nearby turned to them, “aren’t you the kid who’s always hanging out with that detective who sleeps?”

“I—”

“Oh, yeah, it’s him!” Another officer was quickly approaching, and this one had a familiar face. “Is the Sleeping Kogorou around? Is he gonna take the case?”

 _Good excuse_. “Yep, he is!” Shinichi said, voice excited, sunny smile. “He sent me here to take photos of the crime scene while he’s interviewing the witnesses!”

The officers had all gathered around him by then, and most of them had a look between confused and relieved; the one who’d made the suggestion was nodding along like it made sense, and for half a second Shinichi thought that he might actually get away with it.

But the officer with the flashlight looked shrewd. “You mean to say that an ex-policeman sent a child to the very place a murderer has been hanging about, at _this_ time in the evening?”

Dammit. “I can take care of myself, he knows that!”

“I’m sure you can, but there’s a difference between brushing your own teeth and sneaking around a crime scene in the dark.”

Dammit. Dammit, dammit, _dammit._

“…Maybe we should call the detective…”

“Shouldn’t we call Inspector Megure instead? I think he will know what to—”

“I don’t think we need to trouble either of them with something like that, right?” Flashlight Officer said good-naturedly, and oh thank God for small blessings. “Just a kid lost in the park, it isn’t a big deal. Is it?”

He directed the last question at Shinichi, who shook his head empathically. “No, sir. I’ll go home, sir.”

“All right! I’ll walk you home.” Shinichi opened his mouth, but the man barreled on. “Just to make sure you don’t get lost! I mean, it’s unsafe for a little kid to walk home alone after dark.”

That said, Flashlight Officer took Shinichi’s hand in his — a firm grip, dry fingers pressing into skin —, and started leading him out of the park, waving goodbye at the policemen they passed by.

“Which way?”

“…Huh?”

“Which way to your house?”

“That — I mean, _that_ way,” North, to the professor’s house. He had no idea how to explain himself to Ran.

He could, of course, try to shake off Flashlight Officer and then double back to the scene… but the risk of getting old man Mouri involved was too high. There would be no investigation at all if he wound up grounded.

Grounded. A cold-blooded killer on the loose, and Shinichi had to worry about being _grounded._ It was just — just—

“Should we work on an excuse for your parents?”

He looked up at Flashlight Officer. “You’d… help me with that?”

“Of course! I mean,” and here the man gave a small, embarrassed grin, “who hasn’t snuck out of the house for adventures as a kid? And it seems to me you had a good reason to be out here. You were trying to help with the case, am I right?”

Shinichi paused, wondered how much he could let this man know; but his face held no judgment or any edge at all, and he found himself nodding.

“That’s a good thing,” Flashlight Officer continued. “It’s just that — well, it’s too dangerous for someone your size.”

“But I—” He couldn’t really say he’d been through situations much worse than this. “I guess you’re right.”

The snort he received in response startled him; the officer’s mouth twisted into a knowing smirk. “Somehow, I don’t think I convinced you… but I think that might be a battle for another day.”

The grip on his hand pulled him back, then, just as the crosswalk sign turned red. They stopped, and Shinichi averted his eyes from the man’s; he felt he was being observed, like something was going to happen, and he had already revealed a lot more than he meant to. He looked at the hand holding his — and…

…Huh _._

The hand in question was smooth, no calluses in sight. The fingers, long and flexible… and well manicured. 

A little _too_ well manicured for a police officer.

Inside the detective’s head, a warning light blinked.

“You’re a quiet sort of boy, aren’t you?” the man commented.

“You think so?” Shinichi said, stealing glances at his wrist.

The color of the skin there matched the hand, which meant that these were the actual hands of the man who was walking with him. And a man he was; the hand’s length and breadth were larger than a girl’s, and the ring finger was longer than the index. Of course, none of that information was one-hundred percent reliable for gender identification… but it was enough to take Vermouth and his own mom out of the picture, for example.

Out of the Black Organization, only Bourbon could make a disguise as good as Vermouth’s, but Amuro had no reason to disguise himself to walk Conan home — if he wanted to talk, he could just do so.

“Yeah, you seem a lot more talkative when you’re with the detectives.”

“Oh, I’m just — just tired, that’s all.”

Now, his father was the kind of crazy person who would come in disguise to fetch him in the park, in the name of teaching him a lesson or something… but Flashlight Officer’s feet were too small to be his father’s. Plus, he wasn’t nearly as tall.

In fact, if Shinichi had to guess, he would say the man at his side was about as tall as his teenage self.

Which honestly only left one suspect.

“…So, officer-san, do you work with all the divisions or just Inspector Megure’s division?”

The man’s expression was thoughtful. “Uh… I just sort of go where I’m asked to go? I mean, I’m in the Community Safety Department, but when our duties intersect… sometimes they need our help.”

“I see! Have you worked with Inspector Nakamori’s division too?”

No outward signs of surprise, just that same thoughtful look. “Nakamori… no, I can’t say I have ever worked with Nakamori, no.”

“Oh, so you’ve never been to a KID heist?”

Still nothing. “Unfortunately, no. I’ve heard they’re quite the spectacle, though.”

“Never? Not even that really amazing heist when KID teleported? That one had a lot of officers in plainclothes, I thought he called more departments.”

“I was busy with other stuff.” A quiet chuckle. “But the way you talk about him makes me want to see the next one. You sound like you’re a KID fan.”

It was Shinichi’s turn to smirk. “I wouldn’t say that. They do call me the KID Killer.”

“Oh, do they?” The answering grin was almost feral. “I wonder why that is.”

“It’s because I can always figure out when it’s him.”

Now, the detective wasn’t sure what to expect: KID might deny it, cook up more excuses, or distract him with a smoke bomb, before disappearing in the night. There hadn’t been any heists lately, so there weren’t any jewels to return; but maybe KID wanted to leave a notice with him—

“OK, that’s just not _fair._ ”

—or maybe he would just pout. That was apparently an option.

“What?” They hadn’t even stopped walking, and KID didn’t seem in any hurry to drop Shinichi’s hand. “How is that not fair?”

“I was going to leave you at the professor’s house with one of my cards and watch you be shocked.” KID’s voice had taken on a distinctive whine _._ “I wasn’t even impersonating anyone! How could you tell?”

“…I’m not saying.”

“Well, if you don’t say it, how can I improve my act?”

“Who says I want you to improve your act?” Still, there was a smidge of doubt inside Shinichi’s chest — no thanks to Vermouth for making him more paranoid —, so he asked: “Tell me, when did you and I first meet?”

Now, _that_ had KID showing surprise. “April 1st, the Black Star heist, if we’re talking about little you… but the real first time was when I tried to steal the Clock Tower.” And then, resentfully: “You shot at me.”

Shinichi felt relieved and frustrated in equal parts. “You _tasered_ me. I could have _died._ ”

“ _You_ set fire to old man Suzuki’s motorcycle. While I was on it. _I_ could have died. And what about the time you just threw yourself out of a building, counting on _my_ heroic spirit to try and catch you, so you could shoot me _while on air—_ ”

“And _you_ stole my crime scene! Because of you, now they’re on the lookout for me! And it’s gonna be gone by tomorrow morning!” Frustration was now winning, that bitter taste rising to his throat again. “What were you even doing there?!”

“ _I_ was… I was just passing by.” KID suddenly looked more cautious than before, and Shinichi filed that in his mental file cabinet. “Taking a stroll, you know? They say the night air is good for your health?”

“At this time in the evening? Right by a murder scene?”

“Hey, at least I don’t need my _guardian’s_ permission to go anywhere.”

“Well, neither do I!”

He tore his hand off KID’s grip, and turned around, decided to deal with the police officers even if he had to knock them all out somehow — but was stopped by KID’s other hand, holding him by his shoulder.

“ _Let me go_.”

“I said I was going to walk you home,” KID said mildly. “I still think I should.”

“Let me go!” Shinichi hissed. “I can take care of myself. You _know_ that _._ ”

“No, I don’t, because it looks like an internationally wanted criminal just went and snatched you up right in front of five police officers.”

“That doesn’t count! I have my tranquilizer dart, and the soccer ball—”

“I know. I’ll give you that. But it’s still bad, to go alone.”

“And what other choice do I have?!”

Two men on the other side of the street broke off their conversation to look at the pair of them, and only then Shinichi realized that this was the equivalent of a temper tantrum — that he must look ridiculous to KID, tears on his eyes like he was indeed just a seven-year-old.

He took a deep breath, counting backwards from ten in his mind, and let KID take a hold of his hand again.

“I think that there’s something I’m missing right now,” KID said, deliberately calm. Each of his steps was slow, like he didn’t want Shinichi to notice they had resumed walking at all. “Does this case have anything to do with the… gentlemen… on the train?”

“No. I mean — not that I know of.”

“Then why do you need to do it alone? Can’t you call your detective friends, or, you know, cozy up to whatever department’s handling the case?”

Shinichi opened his mouth, but KID started to laugh before he could say anything, placing one finger right on the crease between Shinichi’s eyebrows.

“I can see it’s not an option even if you don’t say anything,” he said, between chuckles. “You need to work on your poker face, you know… But then again, you _are_ dealing with the best of the best.”

“Modest, much?” 

“ _Truthful,_ you mean. After all, to underestimate one’s self is much a departure of the truth as to exaggerate one’s own powers… right?”

Shinichi felt like he’d just caught the devil quoting scripture. “…Please don’t ever do that again.”

KID grinned. “You’re just so easy, great detective.”

There was something contagious about those expressions, something that almost had the corners of Shinichi’s mouth turning up… before KID spoke again:

“So you can’t go to Inspector Megure.”

“…No.” Shinichi had to avert his eyes from him; he felt like he was spilling out, somehow, like there was something shameful inside. “They — they’re not going to let me see the crime scene. They didn’t let me see it in the first place.”

“Why?”

“Because ‘ _a child shouldn’t have to see this’_ ,” he repeated, with disdain. “‘ _Stay on the bench just this once, Conan-kun_.’ Like I’ve never seen a corpse before — like I haven’t seen _more_ corpses than they did.”

“…You actually make a good point, which is why I’m afraid to ask, but what… was there anything…”

The detective took a deep breath, trying to bring forth the memory in his mind. “The victim was gutted. Her internal organs were pulled out. She was naked. There were no possessions around. That’s — KID?”

“…Huh?”

“You’re looking green.”

“…Great detective, please tell me you understand why the police wouldn’t let a _seven-year-old_ look at this crime scene.”

“I do understand!” Shinichi protested. “Of course I do, it’s just — they know I’m not — how can I just know that something like that happened and not do anything about it, how can they expect me do that?”

KID sighed. “I know you detectives like to stick your nose in everything, but Inspector Megure’s unit is competent… Or, well, Inspector Nakamori thinks they’re competent, I’m not sure what you think.”

“They _are_ competent.” Shinichi wondered just how much time KID spent hanging around Nakamori to know his opinions about other departments. Maybe he should warn the man. “They’re good at snap decisions when the occasion calls for it, but they also keep their minds open until the evidence is undeniable. Which is more than many officers can say.”

“So, can’t you trust them? Like, this time at least?”

Shinichi shook his head.

“Can I ask why?”

He wasn’t even sure there was a reason. Or, if the reason was actually a good reason and not a product of his imagination, a tall tale he’d come up with just to convince himself he wasn’t a freak.

“…You wouldn’t understand.”

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, because KID’s expression shifted into something Shinichi wasn’t used to seeing on that face: a thunderous scowl. “Excuse me? I’ll have you know I have an IQ of 400, I can understand _anything._ ”

“Four hun—OK, that’s preposterous _,_ what sort of measurement scale have you been—”

“Not relevant! Don’t change the subject.” KID stopped and crouched down so they were eye to eye, his mouth drawn into a thin line. “Not only can I understand, I _want_ to understand, great detective. So try me.”

Shinichi backed away, tried to put some distance between them, but the thief followed his movement until they were mere inches apart. “It doesn’t — it won’t make sense. I don’t know how to explain.”

KID’s face was so close, Shinichi could see the traces of teenage acne under the make-up. “Try me.”

“What do you even get out of it? Hell, what do _I_ get out of it?”

“ _I_ get a window into the soul of my favorite detective, which is in itself its own reward,” KID said, meeting Shinichi’s glare with an unrepentant grin. “And as for you, they say that a burden shared is a burden halved… and, if you can’t talk about your feelings with a complete stranger, who can you talk to?”

The detective opened his mouth… then closed it.

Then opened it again. “If you laugh at me, I’m gonna stun you and dump you on Nakamori’s porch.”

“…Can we do that another time? Because I’d really like to see you try — but no, I won’t laugh, please just put your watch down now.”

Shinichi did, even though he wished he could just stun KID and be done with the whole thing. What he was about to say wasn’t something he’d ever fully articulated to anyone, and the idea of trying to put it into words was… well, unpleasant.

But knocking someone out just because he didn’t want to have a conversation wasn’t an alternative.

He wasn’t _Haibara._

“…OK.” First, a question, as they resumed walking. “How many corpses have you seen in your life?”

If the icebreaker startled KID, he didn’t show it. He started counting on his fingers and wound up with “Eleven.”

More people than Shinichi had guessed. He wondered whether any of those people had been responsible for Kaitou KID’s existence. “Do you want to guess how many dead people I have seen in my life?”

“…More than that?”

Shinichi smiled, even though he had never felt less like smiling before. “I lost count after two hundred.”

For the first time, he thanked God for KID’s so-called poker face; there was no reaction, no condemnation or horror there, even though he knew the other boy must have been feeling it. 

“And it wasn’t all cases,” Shinichi continued, because now that the floodgates were open he couldn’t stop it. “I mean, it was, I made every single one a case, but it wasn’t like — I didn’t _search_ for all of them. Sometimes I was called — or old man Mouri was called, same thing — but just as often I was just there with my friends. Or in school, or during a trip, a picnic, in an — in an amusement park.

“Great detective—”

“And the worst of it isn’t even that, you know, it’s how many bodies _Ran_ has seen. Or Sonoko. Or the kids _._ Because of me.”

“You know it’s not—”

“Hell, even you! How many times have you stumbled onto a body because you — or during a heist—”

KID’s hand shot up and covered Shinichi’s mouth before he could finish. “Oh, no, you don’t. It’s not you bringing me murders, it’s my own lifestyle — _ew_ , don’t _lick_ me—”

“But I was always around!” Shinichi retorted, cleaning his mouth with his wrist. “When you stumbled onto a body! Wasn’t I? Wasn’t I involved?”

“Because _I_ called you to the scene — plus, you weren’t there for all of them.”

“But most of them! Rachel Cheong, Morubashi Etsuto, Tamai Teruhisa, Kanbara Haruhito — I _remember_ them! I was _there._ ”

KID’s face was completely devoid of expression now. “That doesn’t make it your fault, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“I know it doesn’t.” Shinichi sighed, rubbing his with one hand. “ _Rationally_ , I know it doesn’t. But it’s also… It’s gone well beyond the point of coincidence.”

“What was it that they say, that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter for an infinite time—”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Then what’s your explanation? A curse?”

“Not a curse. I don’t believe in magic, or in curses, or in magical creatures. But,” and here Shinichi’s voice became softer, “my mother gave me an idea that I like. She said that I’m an — an agent of karma.”

He didn’t dare look at KID; he’d been living with masks for quite some time, and right then he felt more like himself than he had felt in a while. If he looked at KID and found disbelief there, or pity…

…Better not to look. “I was fourteen, and I was upset — Sonoko called me a murder magnet, can’t remember exactly why. I didn’t want to tell my mother anything, but she has a talent for making me spill the beans when I don’t mean to…”

“Oh, mine’s just the same. It’s a mom thing.”

“…Right. So she sat me down and she said that, when she and dad started dating, she was a bit scared, because he also runs into murder cases slightly too often, but that eventually she understood. That he wasn’t the one attracting the murder cases, and neither was I — that the _cases_ attracted us.”

“A sort of sixth sense? You just go where you feel something’s wrong?”

“No, it’s not like — it’s not _me_ doing it, I don’t know when something’s gonna happen. But when it does… somehow, that’s where I end up. And then I fix what’s wrong.”

KID’s tone was thoughtful again. “What you’re saying is that you are the universe’s way of — restoring the balance? And dealing justice to evildoers.”

Shinichi couldn’t help it; his cheeks went red. “Oh God, it sounds so conceited when you say it out loud.”

The thief let out a delighted laugh. “Well, isn’t that a treat! You look so cute like this, little detective, I wish I’d brought my camera~”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Make me!” KID said, sticking out his tongue. And then, cheerful: “But it makes a lot of sense! It’s an interesting way to look at it. After all those cases you’ve solved — I don’t think it’s conceited at all.”

“About that, I think I’ll ask someone who isn’t a well-known egomaniac.”

But there was a secret pleasure in hearing those words; something born from an admiration he didn’t quite know what to do with. If KID — Kaitou KID, always one step ahead, who could look at him from across a room and know what he meant with barely even a word — agreed it was an _interesting_ way to look at it…

Then maybe he wasn’t that much of a freak after all.

“Do you understand now?” he asked. “Why I can’t let it go?”

KID’s eyes narrowed. “I do understand, but I don’t think it’s an excuse for you to blame yourself, or isolate yourself. You have to remember you’re working with a hell of a handicap.”

“It’s not like that’s stopped me before.”

“…Let me be clearer, then: it doesn’t matter if no one else understands, you _can’t_ cut everyone else off. The only thing that’ll get you is unnecessary danger.”

It was the worry, of all things, made the frustration come back. “Unnecessary danger? Please tell me I’m not getting a lecture on _unnecessary danger_ from _Kaitou KID._ ”

The ensuing silence told Shinichi he’d hit too close to home. It wasn’t a happy thought.

Speaking of home, he could already spot the mansion in the distance, the professor’s house right next to it. The lights there were still on; there was a high chance he would catch both Haibara and Agasa awake, which meant he would have to explain.

The angry prickly thing inside his chest deflated like a punctured air balloon, leaving only an empty kind of tiredness behind.

“KID,” he said, because he needed to say something. “Thank you. For listening. And for — well, worrying. Sometimes I can get a bit unreasonable when people are worrying about me, but—”

He was about to finish with some pre-ready cliché phrase — something like “I know your heart is in the right place”, just to hear KID gloat about it — but the flash of white caught him off guard; when he looked, he realized KID had exchanged the police officer disguise for his trademark phantom thief suit.

Without letting go of his hand.

“How do you even do that?” Shinichi asked, fascinated despite himself.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out, great detective,” KID said, obviously bursting with pride. “But there’s no need for you to apologize, no.”

“Yes, there is. I snapped at you. More than once.”

“Well, yes… but you’ve also made me really happy tonight, so that makes us even.”

“Made you happy?” Shinichi searched his mind, found nothing. “Just because I let you walk me home?”

“That, too,” KID conceded, stealing glances at the mansion as they passed by. “But it was actually that theory of yours.”

“How?”

A chuckle, tinged with mischief. Bright blue eyes locked onto his.

“Well, if you’re an agent of karma, and I’m an evildoer, of sorts… That means that our meeting was fated to happen, right?”

And he smiled.

And maybe it was a trick of the moonlight, or how real that smile looked on the thief’s actual face… but Shinichi’s head went suddenly blank at the sight, his heart doing a funny little dance inside his chest.

And the first thought that peeked out of the nothingness was that Sonoko was, indeed, right; KID _did_ look unreasonably attractive.

The thought that followed was … _fuck._

“…Are you all right, great detective?”

“…What?”

“Your face — it looks really red. Are you cold? It’s not a fever, is it?”

“What? No, no, _no._ ” Shinichi had to dodge the hand going for his forehead. “I’m fine, I can take care of myself.”

The assertion made KID pause, and his expression took on a wistful note. “That’s right, I keep forgetting that. So… do I have your word that you’re not going to turn around and go back there the minute I leave?”

“Yeah, yeah, I promise.” They had reached the professor’s porch, by then. “You can rest easy tonight, good Samaritan.”

“Said the pot to the kettle. Just… take it easy, OK? Remember that, even though you’re an agent of karma, you’re also a tiny person—”

“ _Oi._ ”

“—and there’s a lot of people out there who need you safe and sound.”

Eventually, Shinichi nodded.

There was a second or two in which they stared at each other, unsure of what to say — until KID broke the gap with a solemn bow.

“Farewell then, great detective.” With a flicker of his wrist, he was suddenly holding a blue rose; he offered it to Shinichi, who took it gingerly between his cupped hands. “See you next illusion.”

KID then moved his arm — a prelude to a smoke bomb or a light grenade, one of his showy exits waiting to happen —, and the urge to say something meaningful grew too big. “Wait, KID!”

Curious blue eyes locked onto his, again; this time, Shinichi had to shake the impression of them away to push the words out.

“You’re not a stranger.”

He thought he might get another of those real smiles with the line (might have even been looking forward to it just a tiny little bit), but KID’s look of surprise quickly shifted into a teasing smirk.

“So, the two of us are friends~?”

“No.”

“But I am sure I heard—”

“ _No._ You’re an _acquaintance._ And an annoying one, at that.”

“Oh, great detective, you don’t need to be so shy! I am very honored to be your fri—”

“OK, _listen here_ —”

“Shinichi, is that you?”

Shinichi turned to the noise of the door opening; the professor stepped out, a lab coat thrown over his pajamas, and a mug of coffee he definitely shouldn’t be drinking at that time in the evening on hand.

“Ai-kun told me you wouldn’t be coming over tonight,” he said, visibly confused. “Did anything happen?”

“It’s fine, I — I wasn’t planning to come, professor, but this guy had to butt in — and I thought it would be too much trouble to head back to the agency. Can I stay over?”

“…Well, yes, but — who are you talking about?”

“ _Him,_ of course!” Shinichi said, gesturing behind him to—

—to nothing. There wasn’t a single soul in sight, and no sign of life in the empty street either.

He sighed.

“…Shinichi?”

“…Let’s just — let’s just go inside, professor? It’s been a long day.”

* * *

Shinichi woke up to a burst of merciless light behind his eyelids.

He barely had time to cover his face before both his blanket and top sheet were snatched off him; in the ensuing confusion, he lost first one pillow, then the other, and was finally thrown on the floor along with the bed sheet under him.

He grunted, raising his voice to complain when he finally found it — only to find himself before a _very_ unamused Haibara.

“Good morning,” she said, overly sweet tone doing little to mask the mountain of salt underneath. “Breakfast is ready. You need to get dressed or we’re going to be late for school.”

Shinichi had been planning to skip, but decided it was in his best interest to keep that information to himself.

“What did the professor tell you?” he asked warily.

“Everything. You’ve got mail.”

“Every — I’ve got what now?”

In answer, Haibara deposited a big, bulky envelope on his lap. It was all creased, and more than a bit dewy; someone had written “TO THE GREAT DETECTIVE” in huge blocky characters on one side, and, on the other, glued a calling card. 

On the card, a familiar doodle.

Shinichi could hear Haibara saying something — most likely where she’d found the package —, but it didn’t really register; he was too busy trying to guess what was inside. It weighed too much to be a heist notice, but it was too light to be a book, and the stuff inside felt loose somehow?…

He tore the envelope open to find about two dozen sheets of paper, all smudged and haphazardly stapled together.

“What is it?” Haibara asked, sounding curious against her will. “Is he sending you puzzles now?”

“Not exactly,” Shinichi said, feeling his voice distant. The first page was a form, a police report describing the discovery of a body in a park; but surely that was _too_ reckless, right? Even for that bastard?

“…Did he just send you a police file?”

“A _copy_ of a police file.” KID had — had to have sneaked into the precinct, probably after they’d said their goodbyes, and photocopied the whole file. If he hung around Nakamori enough, then he probably knew how to locate that sort of information. He must have been spooked by something in the process, though — the last pages were crooked and faint at the corners. “Wait, how do you know that?”

“You’ve got that annoying smile on your face.”

“…Oh.”

He couldn’t help it. All the information was there, the autopsy report, the information on the victim, crime scene photos, reports on interviews and a list of probable suspects; all the stuff he usually had to find out on his own, or work his way around, laid out in front of him.

Suddenly, he stood a chance. The crime scene was like a painting, becoming clearer by the second, and he stood a chance.

“There’s something else here.”

Shinichi raised his eyes to Haibara, who was pulling something else from inside the envelope: a square of tightly folded paper.

When unfolded, the square revealed a letter. 

_Dear Great Detective,_

_I hope this finds you well rested._

_It came to my attention that, despite my ideal of being a gentleman thief, I only gave that one rose to you at the end of our date, instead of a proper gift. Therefore, I took the liberty of procuring these for you. Don’t worry: the original file is safe and sound in its rightful place._

_Please remember you are not alone, even if it might seem so sometimes. Slow down when you need to._

_Until our next fated meeting,_

_Kaitou KID._

_P.S.: If it ever comes up, tell Detective Shiratori I apologize for inadvertently souring his relationship with the night janitor._

“That idiot…”

“A date, huh?”

“What?! No! Stop reading over my shoulder!” Shinichi snapped, trying to push Haibara away.

The damage, however, was already done; Haibara’s cold wrath had traded places with a look of smug amusement, which only grew as Shinichi’s cheeks reddened.

“You should have told me it was something like that, Kudou-kun,” she said, a faint smirk lifting one corner of her mouth. “I am only too happy to aid you in your romantic endeavors.”

“My _roman—_ it’s not like that! He’s the one calling it — it wasn’t anything like that, he just walked me home! He’s a high school student, for Heaven’s sake!”

“So he is your age? My, my, it does seem like fate when you put it like that.”

“ _Haibara!_ ”

She let out an evil chuckle, happy in her revenge. “I’ll let you contemplate your love tokens a little longer — but hurry up, you have to get dressed soon. Don’t be late.”

She left the room at that, sparing a glance and a smile for the blue rose he’d left in a glass of water on the table; Shinichi only picked up the letter again when he heard her steps going downstairs.

To think of it as a date — it was something only KID’s distorted mind could come up with. Shinichi had more than his fair share of problems already. He didn’t need an internationally wanted criminal on top of that.

Even if he was, in fact, unreasonably attractive.

…Better to nip those thoughts in the bud.

Still, when he looked at the file, he found that, underneath it all, there was a truth he couldn’t deny:

He was also looking forward to the next twist of their fates. 

**Author's Note:**

>  _"To underestimate one’s self is much a departure of the truth as to exaggerate one’s own powers"_ is a Holmes quote, from 'The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter'. I just think Kaito likes to quote Holmes at random to annoy Hakuba. 
> 
> I'm on tumblr, at @altumvidetur, in case you wanna see some fic recs and stupid quotes.


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